Rutland City firefighters enter a house at North Main Street and Roberts Avenue Wednesday night. Photo: CASSANDRA HOTALING / RUTLAND HERALD

A fire at a vacant building at Roberts Avenue and North Main Street in Rutland prompted a citywide general alarm Wednesday night, attracting more than three dozen firefighters and damaging the structure.

Officials shut down North Main Street for approximately four blocks and detoured traffic down side streets.

The 7:30 p.m. fire is believed to have started in the basement of the three-story building that once housed International Boutique, a store specializing in the sale of formal gowns. A fire investigator is expected to be called in to identify the fire's cause.

Firefighters worked for a few minutes to break open the locked front door before entering the smoke-filled house. When they arrived smoke billowed from chimneys on both ends of the building and all the windows. There were no flames visible from the exterior of the structure.

"It was a very smoky fire," said Deputy Chief Michael Walsh of the Rutland City Fire Department. Forty firefighters, most wearing oxygen tanks, working to knock down the fire. "Crews did a good job of getting in there," Walsh said.

Although the building is old, Walsh said, it can be restored.

The building had substantial damage on the north side of the basement and first floor. Other areas of the house sustained heavy water and smoke damage.

One neighbor at the scene said the property had recently been purchased and the new owner was looking to renovate.